5th Special Forces Group in Iraq | Rob Leach | Ep. 393

The Team House

dee takos

History, Government, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.7 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2026

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robert Leach is a former 5th Special Forces Group Green Beret and the author of the military-inspired novel Wretched Descent. He retired from the Army in 2023 and now works in military innovation with CMI2, supporting soldier-driven rapid prototyping (maker spaces, 3D printing/CNC, and drone development) through the Army Research Lab’s Catalyst Pathfinder program.
Get Robert's book "Wretched Descent" here: https://a.co/d/5O6GFa8
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00:00 Start
01:21 Growing Up and Joining the Army
02:20 First Deployment to Iraq
08:05 The Surge and Second Deployment
11:33 Selection and the Q Course
19:13 Joining the Fifth Special Forces Group
21:19 Operation New Dawn and Its Challenges
28:01 The Challenges of Military Operations
36:13 Experiences in Jordan and Regional Dynamics
42:26 Life in the UAE: A Different Perspective
45:01 Transitioning from Combat to Planning
01:02:16 Imagining Future Conflicts
01:09:33 Character Dynamics in Special Forces
01:10:20 Geopolitical Tensions and Technological Advancements
01:15:27 The Challenge of Information Assurance
01:25:29 Countering Drone Technology
01:27:21 Reception and Future of Wretched Descent

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, welcome to episode 393 of the team house. I'm Jack Murphy here with today's guest, Robert Leach.
0:14.9	Robert is a former fifth special forces group soldier currently works over there at the Innovation Lab.
0:21.9	And he is also the author of, I Got This Here on My Kindle, Wretched Descent.
0:27.4	I hope you can see that, those of you who are watching this.
0:30.3	I read it.
0:30.8	It's a novel that Rob wrote based on his military experience.
0:35.4	I read it, really enjoyed it.
0:37.3	We'll get into the book a bit later on in this interview.
0:42.0	But first off,
0:43.1	Rob,
0:43.2	thanks for joining us on the show tonight.
0:45.9	Yeah,
0:46.1	thanks for having me.
0:46.8	I'm looking forward to it.
0:48.0	Appreciate it.
0:49.0	So,
0:49.5	let's start at the beginning.
0:51.5	Tell us a little bit about how you grew up
0:53.6	and how that sort of took you towards military service.
0:57.1	Yeah, sure. So I'm originally from Florida, born and raised. It's actually born down in Key West. So I actually born on the island. Not too many people can claim that. I think I'm fourth or fifth generation born down there between the
1:14.3	island and Bahamas and then moved from Key West when I was probably about 10 up to central
1:21.0	Florida, about an hour and a half north of Tampa, about an hour south of Gainesville.
	...

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